Introduction

From JOY THE BAKER, original at: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/02/vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup-with-not-so-vegan-herb-bread/
From JOY THE BAKER, original at: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/02/vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup-with-not-so-vegan-herb-bread/

Number of Servings: 3

Ingredients

For the Soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 tablespoons soy sauce (I used Bragg’s Amino Acids)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (vegan please)

about 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

3 cups vegetable broth

salt to taste

For the Cashew Cream:

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

Directions

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions to hot oil and saute until translucent and slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, stir, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook until mushrooms are cooked and broken down, about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add cracked pepper and vegetable stock and cook at a simmer until mushrooms are completely soft. This took me about 10 to 15 minutes.

While the soup simmers, prepare the cashew cream. In a blender, combine raw cashews and water. Blend on high until smooth. Pour into a measuring cup and set aside. Don’t worry about washing the blender… we’re going to use it to blend the soup.

When mushrooms are cooked through, add about one third of the soup to the blender. Hot soup rises high in the blender so definitely be careful how high you fill the blender. Blend soup on low, increasing the speed to high, until no large mushroom chunks remain. Pour blended soup into a clean pot or large bowl. Blend the remaining soup in batches. *If using silken tofu instead of cashew cream. Blend the silken tofu in with the mushrooms and broth.

Add the cashew cream to the blended soup and stir to incorporate.

Place a fine mesh strainer over the pot that you cooked the soup in. In batches, pour the blended soup into the fine mesh strainer and work the soup through the strainer with a rubber spatula. Don’t use a wooden spoon… you could get splinters in your soup… seriously. Heat and serve the strained soup. Or place in a freezer safe container for a few weeks down the road.